2 killed as thousands protest military takeover in Sudan

Two Sudanese protesters were killed by army fire on Saturday in the capital Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, according to a doctors' committee.

"Two demonstrators were killed in the city of Omdurman by the militias of the putschist military council," the Central Committee of the Sudanese Doctors said in a Facebook post.

The deaths came as thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Khartoum on Saturday to protest this week's military takeover in Sudan.

Protesters marched in the Al-Kalakla neighborhood in the southern part of Khartoum and in Bahri, the northern twin city of the capital, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter.

Demonstrators chanted anti-military slogans and waved anti-coup banners amid calls for the resignation of the head of the ruling military council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, eyewitnesses said.

Separately, the doctors' committee said 10 protesters were injured in the Gadaref city in eastern Sudan.

It also said security forces used live ammunition, rubber bullets, and tear gas to disperse the protesters in the capital Khartoum and other cities.

Meanwhile, Sudan's Information Ministry accused the government authorities of using violence against the protesters.

Police, however, denied using live bullets against the protesters.

"We saw some news saying two protesters were killed by live ammunition in Omdurman and we would like here to confirm that the police only used tear gas against some non-peaceful protesters.

"Moreover, one of the police personnel was injured with live ammunition and we are investigating this incident to know the source of the firing," the police said in a statement seen by Anadolu Agency.

Saturday's protests were called by the Sudanese Professional Association, an activist coalition, to demand the restoration of the transitional civilian government in Sudan.

On Monday, Sudan's ruling military council announced a state of emergency and dissolved the transitional sovereign council and government hours after detaining Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and ministers in his civilian government.

The council also suspended some provisions of the constitutional document outlining the political transition in Sudan.

Deep tensions escalated between the military and the civilian administration in Sudan after a failed military coup last month amid rival protests in Khartoum.

Before the military takeover, Sudan was administered by a sovereign council of military and civilian officials, which oversaw the transition period until elections slated for 2023, as part of a precarious power-sharing pact between the military and the Forces for Freedom and Change coalition.